Monday, 21 January 2013

On building an outward-looking cadre

"Discussion, which is dangerous to the leadership, can be checked by hyperactivity; and this in turn is justified by the nearness of the crash [or the social explosion - Ed.]. The membership, driven at a frenzied pace, has a high casualty rate. A large proportion is always new -- and therefore does not remember the non-fulfillment of past prophecies. A vicious circle is set up which makes the correction of the line more and more difficult. 'Building the leadership' -- which is, of course, identified with the organisation -- becomes a substitute for serious political and industrial work. . . The leadership, which alone has much continuity, becomes unchallengable and finds it less and less necessary to check its policies and practice." - Duncan Hallas.

1 comment:

You do not occupy the leadership positions of a United Front organisation, because part of thetask for revolutionary socialists is to say if you want to be lead by revolutionariesor be part of that leadership, you need to join the revolutionary party in order to do so.This can only have value if revolutionary socialists propose the best tactics for achieving the objectives of the United Front Organisation, and then physically put those tactics into practise in an effective way.

This allows Revolutionary Socialists to show in practice two things.That it is in the nature of Revolutionary Leadership developed in the Revolutionary Party, to generate the only effective tactics for defending working interests. And that it is in the nature of reformist leadership in Reformist Organisations to generate tactics that will lead to the defeat of the working class.

If Revolutionary Socialists fight to occupy the leadership postions of United Front Organisation then those same Revolutionary Socialists cannot use the United Front Organisation to exposethe differeing natures of Revolutionary Socialist leadership and Reformists Socialist leadership.

If Revolutionary Socialists gain the leadership positions of a United Front Organisation then thoserank and file members who come to sympathise/support revolutionary ideas will be less likelyto join the Revolutionary Party.Since it know exists outside the Revolutionary Party, not just at the level of grass roots activitybut in a formalised structure. Those who agree with Revolutionary Socialist ideas will remainto fight for the leadership positions, members of the Revolutionary Party will join them in thatfight.

The job of any SWP member in united front work is to prove in practice that the SWP analysis of capitalismclass and marxism directly leads to the formulation of the best tactics for fighting on any issuerelated to the defence of the working class.

By the practice of occupying the leading positions of a United Front organisation the very revolutionary leaders that they are looking too, are saying to them, thatit is tacticably appropriate to sieze the commanding heights of reformist organisations.Of course in a struggle between Revolutionary Socialists and Reformist Socialists for theleadership of a United Front, those who sympathise with the former will be ledaway from joining the Revolutionary Party in order to join the struggle to wrestlecontrol of leadership positions.

Revolutionaries want reformists to take the leading positions in reformist organisations.Revolutionaries should never have occupied any leading positions in the STWC, or Respect, they should have remainedrank and file members constantly holding the STWC or Respect leadership up to scrutiny for the tactics that they proposed.

Once Revolutionaries occupy bureaucratic positions they have no choice but to defend their occupation ofthose positions against reformists, which is the backyard dirty politics of reformism. Reformistsare in their element when fighting to control a bureaucracy, and the rank file revolutionaries are in their element when proposing how best to defend the class at the the grass roots.

This is why and how the Party lost out in its various United Front work, the United Frontspulled people away from and out of the SWP because they became embroiled in fighting for the structureof those organisations rather than in proving that only Revolutionary Leadershipin the Revolutionary Party, can generate effective tactics for defending working interests.

The United Front was put into effect in a fundamentally eroneous way.

Lenin might have argued dont take the positions take the rank and file.